StarCraft Wiki:Referencing

The integrity of the wiki relies heavily on the comprehensive and reliable sourcing of the information it presents.
There is no set-in-stone requirements for how to reference, but generally you want to include as much information as possible in the reference.

Articles should reference canon sources. For a non-exhaustive list of commonly used references see the citation index.

Books

the first time you use it in an article and each additional time you would reference it this way:

<ref name = "Uprising"/>

Note that slash; that is very important.

This would put a small superscript number (such as [1]) right after the referenced information. Clicking on the number will take the reader to the actual reference, which would appear on the bottom of the screen. The same number appears each time the same reference is repeated.

Quotations as References

You can (and should) use quotes from the game as references. Unfortunately the process is a bit complicated; as a result, these quotes haven't been used enough. For now, they are stored at User:PsiSeveredHead/Script. They'll be added to the relevant articles over time.

<ref name = "Anger">'''[[Jim Raynor]]:''' "I'll see you dead for this, [[Sarah Kerrigan|Kerrigan]]. For [[Fenix]] and all the others who got caught between you and
your mad quest for power!"<br>'''Kerrigan:''' "Tough talk, Jimmy. But I don't think you have what it
takes to be a killer."<br>'''Jim Raynor:''' "It may not be tomorrow, darlin'. It may not even happen with an army at my back. But rest assured: I'm the man who's going to kill you some day. I'll be seein' you." ''[[StarCraft: Brood War]].'' Vivendi Games. Level/area: [[StarCraft Episode VI#True Colors|True Colors]] (in English). 1998.</ref>

It ends up looking like this:

Jim Raynor: "I'll see you dead for this, Kerrigan. For Fenix and all the others who got caught between you and your mad quest for power!"Kerrigan: "Tough talk, Jimmy. But I don't think you have what it takes to be a killer."Jim Raynor: "It may not be tomorrow, darlin'. It may not even happen with an army at my back. But rest assured: I'm the man who's going to kill you some day. I'll be seein' you." StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Level/area: True Colors (in English). 1998.

This one is complicated, as it involves two characters exchanging views. Be sure to use <br> to separate the sentences, and begin each sentence with the appropriate character's name, in bold.

In addition, in-between mission text (and epilogue text) can be used in a similar manner.

<ref name = "Alone">And alone, floating on a dark platform above the burnt-out planet of Char, Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, sat and lorded over the ravenous Swarms. Unable to shake the feeling that a great threat loomed just over the horizon, Kerrigan could only stare off into the vastness of space where she beheld a great void. Or perhaps a reflection of a hollow victory and of the trials yet to come... ''StarCraft: Brood War''. Vivendi Games. Level/area: [[StarCraft Episode VI#Epilogue|Epilogue]] (in English). 1998.</ref>

It ends up looking like this:

And alone, floating on a dark platform above the burnt-out planet of Char, Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, sat and lorded over the ravenous Swarms. Unable to shake the feeling that a great threat loomed just over the horizon, Kerrigan could only stare off into the vastness of space where she beheld a great void. Or perhaps a reflection of a hollow victory and of the trials yet to come... StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Level/area: Epilogue (in English). 1998.

Just One Source

Some articles are taken entirely (or almost entirely) from one source. For instance, all the information we have on Somo Hung, the main character from StarCraft: Uprising, comes from that novel, so you could just reference the page as follows:

Another example is StarCraft: I, Mengsk; at present virtually all information on it comes from the book itself (so that reference would simply be put on the bottom of the page) but information from other sources should be referenced the "usual" way (with the <ref></ref> tags).

Breaking References

Please do not "break" references. A broken reference occurs when new information is added to an article in front of an old reference, and the new information does not come from the old reference. In addition to misleading readers, it also means the new information has not been referenced.

Examples

Consider the following: when we get a statement A from a source M, we add it to the article something like this:

Statement A is true!<ref>Source M</ref>

But sometime later, we get a statement B from a source N. When we add this to the article the improper way to do this would be:

Statement A is true! Statement B is also true!<ref>Source M</ref>

This is what we call "breaking a reference". The article now reads that statement B comes from source M, which we know not to be true. Instead, the right way to add statement B is:

Statement A is true!<ref>Source M</ref> Statement B is also true!<ref>Source N</ref>

Note how a reference to source N now exists, and statement B is added in such a way to use it.

The piece of information "The PEB (Preferred Experience Base) was hostile environment engineering, with combat experience a plus." came from the "beta" reference, but extra information "SCVs are known to come in various designs, the newest design featuring a inbuilt cockpit and a sleeker appearance." from a completely different source was added in between the information and the reference. The information on various designs was also not referenced.